U.S. Navy Submarine Force Museum and Library
The United States Navy Submarine Force Library and Museum is located on the Thames River in Groton, Connecticut. It is the only submarine museum managed exclusively by the Naval History & Heritage Command division of the Navy.
The museum has 33,000 artifacts including the USS Nautilus, the first nuclear-powered submarine in the world. Nautilus was launched in 1955 and decommissioned in 1980. It traveled under the polar ice cap and reached the North Pole during the Cold War. Also at the museum is a replica of David Bushnell's Turtle, built in 1775 and the first submarine used in combat. Other exhibits include a midget submarines from World War II, working periscopes, salvaged parts from the nuclear USS NR-1, a submarine control room, models of submarines, and the Explorer, an early research submarine. The sail section from the USS George Washington is on outdoor display near the main entrance, the first nuclear powered ballistic missile sub.
The museum also has a library with around 20,000 documents and 30,000 photos related to the history of submarine development. The library also includes 6,000 books related to the field of submarine history, including a 1551 text on submarine retrieval, and an 1870 copy of Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea with a model of the fictional Nautilus. Documents in the collection include notes and calculations by John Philip Holland for the Navy's first commissioned submarine, "one-of-a-kind artifacts from World War I and World War II", and the submarine library collections of Electric Boat Corporation and the Navy.